Research Paper On Self Discovery By Ana Clavel

Dr. Sandra D. Wilson (2001) asks, “Have you ever felt as if you were the only caterpillar in a butterfly world? Do you often feel as if you have to do twice as much to be half as good as other” (p. 16)? If you answered, yes, then that is what Wilson (2001) calls binding shame. “Shame is the soul-deep belief that something is horribly wrong with me that is not wrong with anyone else in the entire world. If I am bound by shame, I feel hopelessly, distinguishingly different and worthless (p. 16).

I had a very difficult time reading The Vagina Monologues. I felt the book lacked a cohesive, defining message. Some parts of the book was very powerful and deep. The monologues involving rape and mutilation were intense and well written. In contrast, the chapters on vagina name calling, vagina dressing, and using the cuss word, “Cunt” were unnecessary and offensive. In this instance, a choice of text would be beneficial. Perhaps a different book about the subjects of female rape, mutilation, or molestation would give the reader and writer a choice about which book they would like to further research.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she

During that day and age, it was not common for a woman to write or publish books. For this reason, and many others that involved the particular context of the book, and the storyline, this book was very controversial. Many people said it advocated women's rights, and pushed for their independence as writers and as workers in other fields besides teaching. Others believe that this

I am writing this small essay to talk a little about myself. My full name is Maria Guadalupe Sagastume. I am a proud Hispanic that was born in the United States, with parents from a wonderful country, Guatemala, my parents took me to Guatemala when I was only six months. I lived in Guatemala until I was eight years and a half. When I came back to the United States; after living in Guatemala for eight years, I was completely lost, since I didn’t spoke nor understood any English. As you may assume it wasn’t as easy for me to learn English as it was for others who had lived here their entire life, but that influenced me to work harder every day.

What is the purpose of life? Is it to be happy? To be well known? To be wealthy? Everyone is placed on earth to embark on an individual journey. Whether it is controllable or comes as a surprise, it must not be taken for granted but accepted as a gift. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, O’Brien was chosen from the draft to be deployed to the Vietnam War. He set off on this journey to fight for his country, but had to find himself along the way. In Song of Myself written by Walt Whitman, Whitman was tired of his day to day routine and set off on a tranquil journey to connect himself with the earth. Although “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and “Song of Myself” both demonstrate a journey of self-discovery, they differ in that one

tragic-comedy. It is an interesting and controversial novel. Though controversial, the novel appealed to a great number of people. It was a hugely popular bestseller and general critical success. I chose this novel because of the negative status it has with parents, teachers, and school. I wanted to discover what the roots of this controversy are.

This paper is the development of my personal theory on Christian Counseling. I use many scriptural references to support my beliefs and stress the importance of gaining wisdom and knowledge from the bible. It incorporates all of the presentations, readings, and critiques I did at Liberty University’s Theology and Spirituality in counseling course. I talk about how I integrate Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality into my Christian counseling and believe that they all have a lot to offer the Christian counselor. The role of integration and multitasking is necessary to be an effective Christian counselor under the guidelines of the American Association of Christian

I remember that summer I had been away from home for weeks, but I had been lost for much longer. Day after day I spent by the log fireplace with a blanket, looking at the comforting wooden walls surrounded by a serene silence, my family right beside me. It was agonizing. I longed for a distraction from myself, but in this peaceful place, all I could do was think. At this point of my life, I was enduring the painful process that all people must inevitably endure in their lives, the process of self-discovery. And recently, I had made a breakthrough. I had discovered, some way or another, that I am transgender.

Controversial information and ideas should create dialogue, in which people can discuss how it can best be applied. The reason people keep away from these types of discussions is because it makes them uncomfortable and when a person finds themselves in an uncomfortable situation the first thing they want to do is get away from it. The book, Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen is a novel that depicts the story of Cinderella. In which the main character Becca tries to find her grandmothers history and the story she has been telling them their entire life. Her grandmother never talked about her experiences during the holocaust but she uses Cinderella’s story to somewhat reveal her true story. Homosexuality is also shown in the book with the character of Josef who was tortured during the Nazi regime along with Becca’s grandmother. Josef is helpful because he is able to reveal the life their grandmother once had in Europe.

Before women like Bruce Jenner and Laverne Cox found the mainstream spotlight, gender and sexuality were both, and still are, very concrete ideas and those who didn’t conform to these ideas were considered taboo and more often than not shamed into hiding their sexuality and whom they were in order to fit in with the rest of the world. It was only recently that sexuality and gender identification became a more mainstream topic in the pop-culture world. Before Bruce and Laverne there was Ursula Le Guin’s novel, Left Hand of Darkness, in which she subliminally addresses themes of gender and sexuality in a way that contradicted the mainstream’s unchangeable ideas towards gender and sexuality. She used her book to defy the gender, sexual and sociopolitical binary in a time that was far less welcoming towards people who didn’t fit within the closet of normality. Even though her book is a science fiction novel about and alien planet and was first published in 1969 many ideas she touches on are completely relevant and relate back to our Earth society. There are quite a few lessons our Earth society could pick up and learn from Le Guin’s book.

A journey is something that must be done in everyone‘s life. The journey starts when the person is born and ends when they die. People are all searching for their own things. Some search for things like: money, power, fame, knowledge, peace, understanding, and a sense of who they are. Some people do just for the thrill of adventure. Siddhartha wants to find his individual place in society through personal experience and follow no one else’s ideas but his own.

The journey of self-discovery of identity and culture is a very challenging process because it involves discovering and revealing the good and bad experiences that shaped us as human beings. The effects of self-discovery includes: happiness, disappointment, clarity, enlightenment, and even self-fulfillment. However, it also entails fear, doubts, confusions and misunderstandings. Most importantly, it also means finding our ultimate purpose of life. According to Abraham Maslow’s arguments, in “The Need to Know and the Fear of Knowing,” boils down to finding our inner and outer knowledge of oneself. He concludes that “all factors that permit courage, freedom and boldness will thereby also free our need to know.” He argues that when we safely release ourselves from unnecessary fear and pain, it is one way of freeing ourselves from mental and emotional traps. He asserts that by bravely re-visiting all our choices of life, digging deep into our childhood, and even exposing our unpleasant experiences will eventually make us wiser and stronger. He emphasizes that each approach could be culturally diverse and is also based on individual’s needs. For example: In “No Name Woman,” Maxine Hong Kingston argues that a ghost haunts her for publicly revealing the family’s secret about her aunt disgraceful past. She recreates the events of her life, both imaginary and factual stories to help her better understand the Chinese culture as well as to figure out what part from her identity is

Both novels, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, can be viewed as journeys of discovery to the reader. Both journeys in both novels are a very significant part of the development of the story itself. The Alchemist is a journey of self discovery for Santiago, the young Andalusian protagonist, which is all about him fulfilling his Personal Legend which would strip him of all of his impurities. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is also journey of self discovery for Christopher, the young British protagonist. Christopher’s journey of discovering himself is about him finding out that his mother has not died and she is still alive, which he learns through his journey, he discovers a lot of new things about himself that he did not previously know or knew he had in him.